A Tribe Called Quest

Pitchfork Music Festival 2017 was definitely among one of the best editions of the Chicago installment of the festival. Three days full of artists doing what they do best, and we were in attendance scoping out Union Park to see what #P4kfest had in store for us.

What we got in return was awesome performances, some that will likely be on my year-end list of the best performances I saw this year. From icons to fast-rising up-and-comers, the eclectic balance at this festival had plenty to offer right from when the first acts hit the stage.

Check out our list of the best acts we see over the last weekend. Continue Reading

Behold, our photo gallery for Day 2 of Pitchfork Music Festival 2017! Arguably the best day of #p4kfest, for the middle date of the weekend I checked out performances from Angel Olsen, Mitski, Francis and The Lights, George Clinton, Madlib, Arab Strap, Weyes Blood, Cherry Glazerr, and the legendary A Tribe Called Quest.

I can honestly say that seeing ATCQ was the highlight of my year and will likely wind up becoming my favorite performance of 2017. Not only was it great to hear live renditions of “Check the RhIme,” “Bonita Applebum,” “Can I Kick It?” and “We The People,” but what made the Tribe’s performance so special was that it also doubled as a celebration of their late member Phife Dawg. There was an amazing feeling that took over Union Park, and we have to thank Q-Tip, Jarobi White, Consequence, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad for letting us rock with them as they paid tribute to their friend.

Angel Olsen and Mitski were dope, Cherry Glazerr was truly badass from start to finish, and George Clinton got all the jams to make a fest lit! Legit, not one set I saw today disappointed me.

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This weekend, July 14-16, Chicago’s Union Park will be hosting the 2017 edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival, and to help get everybody excited for one of our favorite times of the season, we’d like to treat you all to some free passes! #P4Kfest has yet another stellar lineup this year with headliners LCD Soundsystem, A Tribe Called Quest, and Solange, and some of the other dope artists on the lineup that will be hitting the stage throughout the weekend include Vince Staples, Danny Brown, Angel Olsen, Joey Purp, Jamila Woods, and Madlib among others. We will definitely be on-site throughout the weekend covering things for y’all, but besides delivering dope pics and recaps, we’d like to offer a little something extra.

So here’s what we got for you… We got three (3) individual one-day passes, one for each date of the festival, and we will be picking three winners at random that will get one (1) pass each.

The West Coast will be hosting one of the dopest music festivals this summer and this year’s Outside Lands lineup has all the proof you need. Not only does it feature headliners like Metallica, The Who, Gorillaz, Lorde, and the legendary A Tribe Called Quest, but the rest of the roster has gems sprinkled all over.

Ay-ooooooh! Friday is a little bit more Dope now with the release of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival lineup! Following the announcement of its headliners LCD Soundsystem, A Tribe Called Quest, and Solange, today we get the rest of the roster.

Also playing the Pitchfork Music Festival are notable acts like Dirty Projectors, Thurston Moore Group, PJ Harvey, Nicolas Jaar, Francis and the Lights, Cherry Glazerr, Ride, and American Football.

The 12th annual Pitchfork Music Festival, taking place Friday, July 14 through Sunday, July 16 at Chicago’s Union Park. Find more details on the lineup and special events after the jump. Continue Reading

Today we got a glimpse at the dopeness that will surround the 2017 edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival with the announcement of the headliners: LCD Soundsystem will headline on Friday night, followed by A Tribe Called Quest on Saturday night, with Solange closing out the festival on Sunday.

I called it with both the Tribe and Solange heading for this fest, both coming off a 2016 that saw them realize truly amazing records. LCD Soundsystem for their part are headlining a summer festival in the Chi for a second year in a row, extending their comeback some and allowing plenty more to tell ’em to shut up and play the hits!

Along with this news, the festival organizers have announced they are partnering with Saint Heron for a series of events curated by this innovative label and arts platform founded by Solange Knowles. The Saint Heron-charged event series will feature an onsite art installation, film screening, artist talks, late night jazz jam sessions, and more. These will take place from Thursday, July 13th through Sunday, July 16th at various locations throughout Chicago. Find more details below. Continue Reading

The 2017 Grammys will forever be a historic event, with Adele stunning most music fans by taking top honors in Album Of The Year category over heavy favorite Lemonade by Beyoncé, Chance The Rapper stealing headlines with his awards for Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Album (ALL as an unsigned, independent artist… and a streaming-only release on top of that!).

While the awards portion of the ceremony had several high moments and some notable lows, the quality of the performances didn’t suffer from that. Above you’ll find the headlining performance by Chi-town hero Chance, who performed a mesh of Coloring Book tracks “How Great” and “All We Got” with the help of My Cousin Nicole, Kirk Franklin, Tamela Mann & Francis and The Lights.

Below you’ll find some of the other dope performances including Bruno Mars’ tribute to Prince, A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg tribute with a powerful “We The People” with Anderson .Paak and Busta Rhymes, and Beyoncé slaying doing “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles.” See all that and our other favorite performances from the night after the jump Continue Reading

The 2017 lineup for Goldenvoice’s Panomara Festival has been announced, with headliners including Frank Ocean, Solange, Tame Impala, Nine Inch Nails, and A Tribe Called Quest. The fest will take place in Randall’s Island Park on July 28-30.

The New York City music festival will also see performances by Alt-J, MGMT, Future islands, Tyler the Creator, Spoon, and Vince Staples. Chicago’s Towkio and Jamila Woods also made this year’s roster. See the lineup in full on the poster above or on the Panorama website.

Goldenvoice is the company that is also behind Coachella, which this year will have Radiohead, Beyoncé, and Kendrick Lamar as headliners.

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It’s that time of year again during which we summarize the best music we heard over the last 12 months. Because Pursuit of Dopeness is composed of an eclectic mix of individuals, this is just one in a series of posts for 2016’s Dopest, so keep an eye out for the rest of the team’s lists in which they select their own picks for the best of 2016.

Now, onto my list… This time around it was much easier to figure out my picks as all I had to do was think back at the albums that resonated with me the most, and by unintended coincidence, these just so happened to be the limited albums that I actually downloaded to my phone so I can hear them whenever the moment struck me.

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Samples have always been the foundation of hip-hop since the beginning, from a Dj scratching different songs together to producers flipping a beat over for a hit single. Through each year its interesting to see how producers continue to evolve and dig up never before used samples for a memorable song. 2016 was no different, as many producers found diamonds in rough, creating hits that will be played for years. Here’s my list of my favorite samples used in 2016:

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I’t almost thanksgiving and that means its time to count everything you’re thankful for. 2016 has been a ridiculous year for music, so its only right to look back on it and count all the blessings rappers gave us. Here is my list of 10 songs I’m thankful dropped in 2016: